Guiding Bolt
Instant
Destroy target creature with power 4 or greater.
Scry 2. (Look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- W
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate
- Price
- $0.16
- EDHREC rank
- #17264
Guiding Bolt trades a creature and replaces itself — four mana for a removal spell that draws a card is a real rate, not a consolation prize. It's narrow on color identity, but in any white-blue shell that wants card flow, Guiding Bolt earns its slot without debate.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Elminster
Elminster's ability triggers off scrying, and Guiding Bolt removes a threat and immediately hands you a scry 4 — that's four separate triggers feeding directly into the engine on a single spell.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Guiding Bolt does its best work: the format's slower pace makes four mana acceptable, and card advantage matters more than speed. In Pauper, it competes with cheaper removal options but the draw stapled to it keeps it in consideration for blue-white control builds. Legacy and Vintage have the card pool to do better on efficiency, so Guiding Bolt sees almost no play there. It's not legal in Modern, Pioneer, or Standard, which limits its reach but doesn't matter much — Commander is where this card lives.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.16 bulk tier
At $0.16, Guiding Bolt is bulk by any measure, and there's no pressure to buy in quantity. Bulk removal with upside tends to hold this floor indefinitely — pick it up when you need it.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Elminster
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.